Babirye steps down to restore sanity in netball

The desire by the different stakeholders to completely wipe out internal and external feuds that have for over two years plagued Uganda Netball Federation (UNF) last week saw federation president Sarah Babirye Kityo step down from her seat.

The series of events started as early as 2021 when a new cabinet under former Youth Member of Parliament  for the central region Babirye  came into power to replace Susan Anek in an election held  in June.

This had  executive members turning against each other on account of mismanagement and embezzlement of funds that saw a section of these being forced to surrender their seats and replaced by a secretariat during an Annual General Assembly that also included amending the UNF constitution.

The executive members who stepped down included the treasurer Aidah Nambusi, general secretary Aminah Mmande, second vice president Richard Muhumuza and the publicity secretary Yahaya Ssengabi.

However this did not return sanity to the federation but only escalated conflicts that also included the National Council of Sports (NCS)  general Secretary Patrick Bernard Ogwel .

Ogwel was accused of requesting kickbacks from the sidelined executive members as well as withholding funds for the UNF.

In return Ogwel threatened to sue Babirye for slander and defraudment of government  and also determined not to fund the UNF not until they properly account for the cash they received in 2021 when the team took part in the Africa Netball Championships and Pent Series.

However Babirye said she well accounted for the Shs186m received from the NCS and refused to account for any amount beyond what they received.

This did not save the situation till the deputy Inspector General of Government Patricia Achan last month issued an order to Ogwel to fund the netball federation in seven days,  to which the NCS turned a deaf ear.

In an interview with Daily Monitor, Achan said this would enable the netball federation to prepare for the Netball World Cup due July this year in South Africa as well as settle their outstanding debts as further investigations on the previous issues were ongoing.

Hence last week Achan and other netball and sports stakeholders including UNF executive, the auditor general, attorney general, NCS as well as players from the 2021 team to Namibia with their male counterparts who went for an African championships the same year converged at Nakasero state house with the Minister of Education and Sports Janet Kataaha Museveni  to solve netball issues once and for all.

Information from those who attended the meeting that was closed to media  has it that through the state Minister Peter Ogwang’s remarks, as well as former players and others, it became clear that there was a lot of stink in the netball federation ranging from poor governance to corruption, embezzlement of funds, sexual harassment of players and failure to account for funds.

It is due to these issues that Babirye was forced to  step down to allow further investigations as well as prepare the national netball team well for the World Cup starting July 28 in South Africa.

These investigations will go on for three months and now the onus to lead the She Cranes team to the World Cup as well as other official issues falls  into the hands of the Vice President Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso according to the UNF constitution.
According to Babirye, she voluntarily decided to step aside and after the investigations, she is sure to return to her position as president.

“I decided to step aside to allow investigations to take place but I was not forced to step down like some people say. I am still the president of UNF and if my leave will help the She Cranes get funding from the government, then it is the best thing to do,” she said.

Meanwhile those who attended the meeting revealed that the First Lady told Babirye to either  step aside or remain and the She Cranes would not go for the World Cup. The president was forced to choose the option which would not affect the national team.

Meanwhile there is no stated rule that allows the International Netball Federation to interfere with leadership issues of member countries.